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A growing — and furious — fight between the conservative base of the Republican Party and its Establishment elites in Washington is rapidly taking shape.

Senator Ted Cruz took to Sean Hannity’s television show Tuesday night and took on Karl Rove, >>> (Rove compared the defunding strategy to the famous — and losing — Pickett’s Charge of the Battle of Gettysburg). Cruz immediately countered by saying that while he wasn’t a military strategist he was pretty sure 100% of battles were lost if one surrendered before the battle began.

The next morning Cruz was at the Heritage Foundation (seen here at Right Scoop) explaining how the defeat of gun control earlier this year can be used as a template to defeat ObamaCare.

As was discussed earlier this week in this space, this has become a battle between what Ronald Reagan once called “rabbits” and “tigers.” Reagan, a tiger himself on these matters, was furious with House Republicans when they abandoned him on a veto of a pork-laden “Clean Water Bill” out of fear of being labeled “anti-environment.” Reagan himself was targeted by Democrats over this veto and he never flinched, angry that House Republicans had abandoned principle.

Reagan is gone, but his political heirs — his tigers — are very much in evidence in the fight to defund Obamacare. >>>

This is precisely the kind of thing that drove Ronald Reagan crazy. He was never afraid to call out these people in his own party. As mentioned Tuesday, he repeatedly called them “fraternal order” Republicans or “pale pastels” or, teeth-grittingly, “rabbits.” As in: when things get tough they run like rabbits.

Ted Cruz and his compatriots in House and Senate are decidedly not rabbits. They have a complete and full understanding that the opportunity to repeal Obamacare once enacted is slim to none. No entitlement program — no matter how poorly thought out and constructed, no matter how much it is dragging the country down to a financial oblivion — has ever been repealed. Ever.

They understand fully that governmentally speaking this is a one-time shot at slowing Obamacare and opening the door for eventual repeal.

But the point is not lost on Cruz, Mike Lee, and all the rest that Reagan’s argument about the need to stop Big Government is in fact a wildly popular political argument — with the conservative base. >>>

Sixty-two days.

Sixty-two days to lead a grassroots charge to defund Obamacare.

The fight is on. It’s Washington versus the conservative grassroots.

The question will quickly become, for Republicans in the Senate and the House, Reagan’s old question:

The administration has popped the bubble of hope some small business had that switching to part-time staff would let them escape the high costs of Obamacare.

The Small Business Administration on Thursday created a website to explain to businesses that the government will simply tally up the number of part-time employees firms have to determine if enough hours have been worked to essentially create a "full-time equivalent."

Some smaller businesses had thought that if they could get under the 50 full-time employee cap that activates Obamacare by cutting full-time workers and hiring more part-time workers they would escape having to provide costly health care insurance — or pay a federal fine.

Several business organizations have been warning smaller firms of the provision in Obamacare, but many were confused and waiting for the administration to finally explain the so-called employer mandate calculation.

>>> The uncertainty created by the [health care act] continues to cause franchises and other small businesses to hit the pause button on job creation." >>>

Under Obamacare, a full-time work week is just 30 hours.

Edmund F. Haislmaier of the Heritage Foundation said the rules are a "problem for employers at the margin" of 50 full-time workers. The rules also cover seasonal workers: If a company with seasonal workers had the equivalent of 50 full-time employees for just 121 days, Obamacare kicks in.

Defunding is a start ... in the right direction. Doing nothing is not.

Once entitlements have been fully implemented they have NEVER been reversed or repealed. As noted in the first article above:

Ted Cruz and his compatriots in House and Senate are decidedly not rabbits. They have a complete and full understanding that the opportunity to repeal Obamacare once enacted is slim to none. No entitlement program — no matter how poorly thought out and constructed, no matter how much it is dragging the country down to a financial oblivion — has ever been repealed. Ever.

They understand fully that governmentally speaking this is a one-time shot at slowing Obamacare and opening the door for eventual repeal.

But the point is not lost on Cruz, Mike Lee, and all the rest that Reagan’s argument about the need to stop Big Government is in fact a wildly popular political argument — with the conservative base.

On October 1st, millions of Americans will be required to enroll in Obamacare and could lose access to their doctors and be forced to pay higher premiums and higher taxes. But there's still time to stop it. Republicans in Congress can stop Obamacare if they refuse to fund it.

The House has the power of the purse. Obama can cry all he wants but if the House does not fund it, he wont get it ... if they just follow the Constitution. I find it ironic that the Administration forces its will to abuse power they do not have, while Congress lacks the will to use the power that it does have.

I got another call from the RNC today. I keep telling them that Boehner, McConnell, Cantor etal have to go. Theres no contrast (other than cheap talk) between the partys as long as these clowns run the show. I have given tens of thousands of dollars to the RNC in the past. No more. They want me to contribute for the conservative cause? The conservative agenda (their language, not mine)? Are they shittin me? Rove has declared war on conservatives and we are currently shunned and called names by these ass wipes at the top. I told them defund 0bamacare and reject amnesty, then we'll talk.

I will always support conservatives. ALWAYS! But these establishment half wits are running the nation into the ground, and I unequivocally let them know it too. No mas... NO MAS!

If they let these opportunities pass... again ... the midterms just past, will look like a picnic.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, say they won’t vote for any continuing resolution to fund the federal government through the 2014 fiscal year that contains funding for Obamacare.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says Cruz and Lee are being dishonest because they know President Obama will never sign any measure that defunds his signature domestic policy achievement.

The Alamo or a fool’s errand?

Who is right and who is wrong depends largely on whether you believe taking a stand based on principle is the right thing to do regardless of the projected outcome or a fool’s errand when the outcome is predetermined against you. People of high principle are found on both sides of what is essentially an argument over tactics.

But there is one hoary myth circulating throughout the GOP debate on this issue that combatants on both sides ought to reject utterly and completely.

Obamacare is NOT immune to defunding

That is the notion perpetuated by the Congressional Research Service and Obamacare defenders that due to some mysterious power, Obamacare is immune to defunding.

Citing a recent CRS report, for example, Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post earlier this week observed that Obamacare contains lots of “mandatory funding,” which is “billions in federal dollars that were appropriated by the Affordable Care Act and can’t be touched without repealing Obamacare itself.”

Kliff goes on to point out that “the tax subsidies to purchase health insurance, for example, are considered mandatory funds. ‘Therefore, the funds for such credits would continue to be available via permanent appropriation during a government shutdown,’ CRS concludes.”

Utter nonsense

But that is utter nonsense because there is no such thing under the Constitution as “mandatory funds.” Much as Obamacare’s defenders want everybody to believe there is such a thing as mandatory spending under entitlement programs, the truth is that what Congress appropriates, it can just as easily un-appropriate.

All that is required is insertion of these words: “Notwithstanding any other law or regulation, no funds hereby authorized shall be expended for ……”

There is no doubt question that Congress has the power to defund Obamacare or any other program it has previously approved because Congress alone under the Constitution has the authority to tax and spend.

What is presently missing is the will in Congress to defund Obamacare. Obamacare advocates commit an intellectually dishonest rhetorical sleight-of-hand in saying Congress cannot do something when all it lacks is the will, not the authority.

With Cheney as a challenger, Sen. Mike Enzi joins Tea Party effort to defund Obamacare

Liz Cheney might have challenged Enzi for his “go along, to get along” personality in the Senate, but the three-term senator is joining the effort to defund Obamacare promoted by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Enzi gave a speech against Obamacare on the Senate floor on Thursday and signed the Senate letter circulated by supporters of the bill.

“U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., will not support a continuing resolution that funds further implementation or enforcement of Obamacare,” Enzi explained in a statement highlighting his support of the idea.

The letter of support is also signed by Sens Inhofe, R-Okla., Vitter, R-La., Thune, R-S.D., Chiesa, R-N.J., Fischer, R-Neb., and Grassley, R-Iowa.

Boehner is your classic go along get along Rino. The House has passed several bills abolishing n0bamacare, yet every time appropriations are in order to fund it, the House comes through with money. After all, as Boehner said, "it's the law of the land".

2010: You can keep your doctor
2013: Everyone must be in or it won't work.
2015: Don't go to the doctor or you will burden the system.
2016: Getting sick is unpatriot
2017: You weren't using that pancreas anyway citizen.

Fox News notes that when asked if the "health care law needs to be changed and Congress should keep at it, 63% said yes. That is up from 58% a year ago."

Only 31% oppose.

Watching the news coverage these days, you get the sense that America is tired of Congress going after ObamaCare. But just the opposite is true. It is the media tired of seeing Congress go after ObamaCare -- probably because they know that the publicity of the ongoing GOP effort only undermines the program further.

Put simply: Because the mainstream media want Obama and his signature piece of legislation to succeed, rather than report on this reality, the media instead fabricate a reality in which America agrees with them.

The rest of the poll is also bad news for Obama and the media. The president's approval rating is upside down at a dismal 42% approve, 52% disapprove, and a full 57% believe the roll-out of ObamaCare has been -- in the poll's words -- "a joke."

Always remember that the mainstream media does not report reality; the media shapes reality -- and it is almost always a lie.